Antonia's Line

Director Marleen Gorris dives into the imagination of Dutch teen Danielle (Els Dottermans) at the funeral of the grandmother (Petra Laseur) she barely met (with maybe the most improbable use ever of the 1920's tune by Walter Donaldson and George A. Whiting), before her mom (title character, Willeke van Ammelrooy) brings her to the ad-hoc wake, where crude farmer Dean (Jakob Bets, Filip Peeters his son) and decent farmer Bas (Jan Decleir) reveal themselves, in Antonia's Line, 1995.

From the opening framing the imminent death of the title character (Willeke van Ammelrooy), director Marleen Gorris finds her returning to her hometown in immediate post-WWII rural Netherlands, with her daughter (Els Dottermans), visiting her mother (Petra Laseur), Leo Hogenboom the priest, Fran Waller Zeper as old friend Olga, completing a head-spinning turn into farce, in Antonia's Line, 1995.

Dressed up neighbor farmer Bas (Jan Decleir) visits the title character (Willeke van Ammelrooy) with a proposition, her daughter (Els Dottermans) observing, gets turned down but settles for a visit with his sons (Antoon Schotsaert, Christophe Horemans, et al), in post-WWII Netherlands, in director Marleen Gorris' Academy Award-winner Antonia's Line, 1995.

All in one shot, with narration by Lineke Rijxman in the voice of the great-granddaughter of the title character, director Marleen Gorris introduces star Willeke van Ammelrooy, in the somber opening to the international hit absurdist comedy and Best Foreign Language Academy Award-winner, Antonia's Line, 1995.